Mexico has reaffirmed its decades-long history of support for Cuba with a recent oil shipment, a move framed by president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo as consistent with ongoing humanitarian aid and economic cooperation. The delivery comes as cuba faces continued economic hardship, prompting a review of the longstanding, bi-partisan relationship between the two nations. According to the President, this assistance is not a novel development, but rather a continuation of agreements dating back to 1994 and encompassing multiple presidential administrations.
Mexico’s recent shipment of oil to Cuba is part of a long-standing practice of humanitarian aid and agreements spanning multiple administrations, regardless of political affiliation, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said Tuesday.
Speaking at her daily press conference, Sheinbaum Pardo stated she received a report from the Secretariat of Foreign Relations detailing the ongoing energy and financial cooperation between the two nations. The move comes as Cuba continues to grapple with economic challenges.
Sheinbaum Pardo detailed a history of collaboration, beginning in 1994, during Cuba’s “special period” – the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. At that time, Mexico formalized a $350 million investment to modernize the Cienfuegos refinery through a strategic debt-for-investment exchange, known as a “swap” operation.
In 2012, agreements were signed for Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, to provide technical assistance to Cupet, Cuba’s state oil company. This allowed Pemex to participate in exploration projects alongside international consortia, she explained.
The administration of then-President Enrique Peña Nieto also took action in 2012, forgiving debt owed by Havana to Pemex and canceling 70 percent of Cuba’s historical debt to Bancomext (National Foreign Trade Bank). The remaining debt was restructured to encourage bilateral trade.
Sheinbaum Pardo outlined a timeline of presidential encounters between Mexico and Cuba, starting with Luis Echeverría Álvarez’s visit to the island in August 1975, shortly after the Cuban Revolution. “José López Portillo visited Havana; Fidel Castro came to Mexico with Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who in turn went to Cuba after the fall of the Soviet Union,” she said.
She recalled that former President Ernesto Zedillo attended the Ibero-American Summit and also met with Cuban dissidents. “With Vicente Fox, there was that incident of ‘eat and leave,’ when Fidel Castro came to Mexico. Jorge Castañeda was in Foreign Relations at the time, and they were concerned that George Bush might meet with Castro” at the Monterrey summit.
Presidents Felipe Calderón, Peña Nieto, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador also traveled to Havana during their terms, Sheinbaum Pardo noted. She stated she currently has no plans to visit the island.
“This is important because the Mexico-Cuba relationship is historical. Mexico was the only country that initially opposed the U.S. blockade. This isn’t a new situation, and everything is done within the framework of the law and also for humanitarian reasons with the Cuban people,” she emphasized.
Sheinbaum Pardo added that she would request Pemex to provide specifics on the number of barrels of oil sent to Cuba, as well as the costs associated with transportation, handling, and port unloading. “Everything is legal and part of something that has been done with Cuba for a long time,” she insisted.
